Illuminated sign



Oct 1940. J. A. BERGMAN 2,216,261

' ILLUMINATED sxen I Filed Sept. 1:5, 1959 L/o/wv A. fif/eo/wA/vINVENTOR.

/ ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 1, 1940 PAT ' ILLUM'INATED SIGN John ,I t ergman, NorthBergen, N. J.; Alfred Herrman, administrator of said John A. Bergman,deceased Application $eptember 13, 1939, Serial No. 294,699 r; H 4Claims; (o1. ins-133) This invention relates to illuminated signs andmore specifically to an animated sign.

One of the important features of the invention I resides in'anilluminated sign in which the letters, numbers, symbols or other signcharacters are electrically illuminated ina novel manner to impart anillusion to the eye of an observer that running water appears behind theilluminated area defining the sign characters. Another feature of theinvention is to provide an electrically illuminated sign in which theilluminated sign characters are made to sparkle to attract the eyethereto, thus making the sign exceptionally attractive for advertisingdisplay purposes.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of an illuminatedsign in which the running water illusion or sparkle is accomplished by abreaking up or deflection of light rays by the movement of one roughenedglass plate relative to another roughened glass plate, the glass platesbeing interposed between a source of light and the stencil on which thesign characters are formed.

A still further feature of the invention is to provide an illuminatedsparkling sign in which the illuminated sign characters forming a singlesign may be of multi-color, by the use of a single source of electriclight.

A still further feature of theinvention is to :5 provide an illuminatedsign embodying the aforementioned features, which is simple andinexpensive of construction, easy to assemble, inexpensive to operate,and which is attractive and 1 appealing to the eye of an observer.

Other novel features of the invention will become apparent as thefollowing specification is read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of my i illuminated sign. p

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical transverse sectional view on the line22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail horizontal sectional view on the line 3-3of Figure 1. I? Figure 4 is a face view of the stationary lightreflecting plate looking at the rough side thereof. Figure 5 is a faceview of the movable light reflecting plate looking at the roughened sidethereof. '5 Referring to the drawing by reference characters, thenumeral l0 designates my improved illuminated sign in its entiretywhich. includes a base I I having a post or standard I2 risingtherefrom, the top of the post supporting a platform I3. The platform l3rigidly supports a housing ward end of the shaft extending through theor parabolic reflector it, the front open end of the reflector beingprovided with an annular outwardly extending flange it from which anannular forwardly extending flange it extends. The rear of the reflectori i'is provided with a centrally disposed lamp opening i'l. Fixedlysecured 5 to the platform it and disposed rearwardly of the reflectorand fitting thereagainst, is an inverted u-shaped housing-it to which abracket 89 is fixedly secured and on which a forwardly extendingelectric lamp socket 26 is mounted, the 10 said socket receiving atubular electric lamp 2|, which lamp extends through the opening ll intothe reflector id. lhe socket it is electrically connected by wires to aplug socket 22 with which an attachment plug it", is connected, the plug23 being attached to one end of an electric conductor cord if.

Journaled in upstanding bearings 25 carried by the platform it is adrive shaft 26, the for- 1 flange l5 and having a drive spool roller 2'!fixed thereto. The other end of the shaft 26 has a rearwardly flangeddrive wheel it fixed thereto, the flange of the wheel. on the inner sidethereof being provided with a rub-herring 29. A rod 30 bridges the wallsof the inverted U-shaped housing lfiland pivotally supports an electricmotor 3!, the pivot being off center so as to throw the motor forwardlyto cause the armature shaft 32 f of the motor to frictionally engage thefriction ring 29. The electric motor 35 receives its energy throughwires which lead therefrom and connect with the terminals of the plugsocket Two equi-distantly spaced idler spool rollers 33 arei mounted onstub shafts which are fixedly convnected to the flange i i. The idlerrollers 33 and the drive roller ii are radially arranged with respect tothe axis of the reflector i l and are disposed on the samecircumferential plane for ro-z tatably supporting a translucent element35. The translucent element 35 comprises a circular glass plate it, theperiphery of which is provided with a friction material such as lead 37,and it is the lead ring Bl which engages the idler rollers 33 andthedrive roller 2i so that upon rotation of the drive roller ii, a slowrotation will be imparted to the translucent element 35. The flat sideof the glass plate 3% facing toward the rear of the reflector isroughened as at 38, and which roughened surface defines a myriad oflight reflecting surfaces; for the roughened surface is provided withmany depressions.

Fitting against the free peripheral edge of the annular flange it is arim 39 which is substanv ro tially T-shaped in cross section to providea rearwardly facing shoulder 40 which abuts the free peripheral edge ofthe flange I6, and an inwardly facing shoulder 4| with which a clearglass plate 42 abuts. The rim 39 is fixedly secured to the flange I6 byscrews 49'. Fitting against the inner side of the glass plate 42 is astencil disk 43, the said stencil disk having stencil openings 44' cuttherein, the stencil openings defining the sign characters, which inthis instance read Anns home made pies. Positioned rearwardly of thestencil sheet 43 is a colored translucent sheet 44, which may be ofCellophane or other equivalent material. The color sheet may be made upof one or more different colored sections, depending upon the color ofthe sign characters desired when the sign is illuminated. Fittingagainst the color sheet 44 is a translucent element 45, which comprisesa glass body 46 having one of its flat sides roughened as at 41 todefine a myriad .of light reflecting surfaces. The translucent element45 is of a similar construction to the translucent element 35, with theexception that the roughened surface 41 is coarser orless roughened thanthe surface 38 of the element 35. The roughened surface 41 faces towardthe front of the sign, that is, against the color sheet 44, and is heldin fixed spaced relation with respect to the element 35, by a clampingring 48 which encircles the rim 39 and is secured thereto by screws 49.

In practice, assume that the electric conductor cord 24 is plugged intoan electric outlet socket 50 as illustrated in Figure 1, thus currentwill flow to the socket 2-2 and be fed therefrom to the lamp socket 20to illuminate the lamp 2 I, and also to the motor 3| to impart rotationto the armature shaft 32. Rotation of the armature shaft 32 imparts aslow rotation to the wheel 28, causing rotation of the shaft 26 anddrive spool roller 21 which forms a friction drive between the peripheryof the rotatable translucent element 35 and the driving shaft 26. Lightfrom the lamp 2| is reflected forwardly onto the roughened side 38 ofthe rotating translucent element 35 and the reflecting surfaces formedby this roughened surface breaks up the direct rays of the light, andthese broken rays pass onto the translucent element 45, where they arefurther broken up by reason of the roughened surface 4'! and thencereflected forwardly through the stencil openings of the stencil sheet43. This rotation of the translucent element 35 relative to the fixedtranslucent element 45 imparts a sparkling appearance to the lightvisible through the stencil openings when the sign is viewed from thefront. In addition to the sparkling effect, the result produces anillusion of running water. The breaking up of the light rays imparts ananimated appearance to the sign which for advertising display purposeswill attract the eye of persons within eye distance of the sign.

For the best results, it has been found that the roughened surface 38should be finer than that of the roughened surface 41, and that theglass plates on which these surfaces are formed must be predeterminedlyspaced apart, the spacing distance being dependent upon thecharacteristics of the two roughened surfaces which define a myriad oflight reflecting surfaces.

Through actual experiments, I have found that glass known as Zioniteglass produces the result desired, but it is understood that other typesof glass may be resorted to if desired.

In view of the fact that the sparkling effect which is obtained iscaused by the movement of one of the glass translucent elements withrespect to the other, it will be understood that signs might beconstructed in which a sliding or reciprocating movement may be impartedto the element 36 rather than a rotary movement.

While I have shown and described what I consider to be the mostpractical embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood thatsuch changes and alterations as come within the scope of the appendedclaims may be resorted to if desired.

Having thus. described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. An illuminated sign including a source of light, a translucent signmember disposed forwardly of said source of light, a pair of spacedtranslucent elements interposed between said source of light and saidtranslucent sign member, each of said translucent elements having aroughened surface on one side and a smooth surface on the opposite side,each roughened surface defining a myriad of light reflecting surfaces,the roughened surfaces on the translucent element nearest the lightsource being rougher than the roughened surface of the other translucentelement, the smooth surfaces of the translucent elements being disposedin confronting relation, and means for moving one of said translucentelements relative to the other, whereby light rays from said source oflight are broken up and reflected forwardly onto the rear of saidtranslucent sign member to impart a sparkling appearance to theilluminated sign when viewed against the rear of said plate, a coloredtrans1u-' cent sheet fitting against said stencil, a translucent platehaving a rough surface on one side thereof defining a myriad of lightreflecting surfaces, the rough surface fitting against said translucentsheet; a movable translucent element interposed between and disposed inspaced relation to said source of light and said translucent plate andhaving a rough surface on one side thereof defining a myriad of lightreflecting surfaces, the roughened side of said translucent elementfacing the source of light and being rougher than the roughened surfaceon the translucent plate, and driven actuating means for moving themovable translucent element, whereby the light rays from the source oflight are broken up and reflected in a disorderly manner through thetranslucent sign to impart the illusion of running water to the eye ofan observer when looking at the front thereof.

3. An illuminated sign comprising a parabolic reflector, a sign fixedlymounted in the open end of the reflector and having translucent signcharacters therein, a source of light within said reflector, atranslucent element fixedly mounted in said reflector adjacent saidsign, a second translucent element rotatably mounted in said reflectorand disposed in spaced relation to the first mentioned reflector andforward of said source of light, each of the translucent elements.having one side roughened to define a myriad of light reflectingsurfaces, the roughened side of the rotatable translucent element beingrougher than the roughened side of the fixed translucent element,theroughened sides of the translucent elements facing away from eachother, and driven means for imparting rotation to the rotatabletranslucent element to impart an animated action to the light reflectedthrough the transparent sign characters.

4:. An illuminated sign comprising a parabolic reflector, a sign fixedlymounted in the open end of said reflector and having translucent signcharacters therein, a source of light within said reflector, atranslucent glass plate fixedly mounted in said reflector rearward ofsaid sign, radially arranged bearing rollers mounted in said reflectorand disposed on the same circumferential plane relative to the axis ofsaid reflector, an annular translucent glass plate having its peripheryengaging said bearing rollers for rotatably mounting said annular glassplate relative to the fixed translucent glass plate, each glass platehaving one side roughened to define a myriad of light reflectingsurfaces, the roughened surface of the rotatable annular translucentglass plate being more closely roughened than the roughened surface ofthe fixed translucent glass plate, the roughened surfaces of the twoglass plates facing away from each other, and driving means connected toone .of said bearing rollers for imparting rotation thereto.

JOHN A. BERGMAN.

